Method and system for automatic adjustment of entitlements in a distributed data processing environment

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product is presented for restricting access to a set of resources in a distributed data processing system. A server determines a set of authorized resources for which a user is authorized to access; the set of authorized resources is a subset of the set of resources that are operational within the distributed data processing system. An evaluation is made about the availability of the set of authorized resources based upon state information about the set of authorized resources. A list of a set of entitled resources for the user is then generated; the set of entitled resources is a subset of the set of authorized resources. An indication of the set of entitled resources may be sent to the user, after which the system would respond to requests for the user to access the set of entitled resources.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for multicomputer data transferring. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for multicomputer distributed resource management. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] A user registers with an organization to obtain access to online applications that are provided by the organization, such as e-commerce web sites and web applications that perform transactions over computer networks on behalf of the user. The user is associated with a set of entitlements, which are attributes that enable the user to access certain applications, accounts, or other controlled resources. For example, a user may be registered to use an online brokering application, and thereafter, the user may be considered to have an entitlement for the online brokering application. The user may also...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0052] The advantages of the present invention should be apparent in view of the detailed description that is provided above. In the prior art, an entitlement engine determines a list of entitled resources for a user based on the resources that the user was authorized to access. In contrast, the present invention provides an entitlement engine which incorporates consideration of the state of its computational environment while determining the list of available resources that should be presented to a user of the servers within the computational environment. Using the present invention, the system does not present to the user information about a set of resources when those resources have already passed a threshold condition. The conditions might entail considerations of the fact that the user would likely experience poor performance during these conditions. Other considerations could include an entitlement decision to reserve those resources based on user attributes, as explained in more detail with respect to the example provided below.

Problems solved by technology

Current entitlement systems, however, do not consider information about the real-time status of the computing environments in which they operate, which can produce inconsistent performance for the users of those systems.

For example, an application may be unavailable due to failure, due to maintenance, or due to capacity limits that have been reached.

If the user subsequently attempts to access a resource that has been offered but that is not available or that has already been fully loaded, then the user may experience availability problems, which gives the user the impression that the organization's computer systems, e.g., its web site, is not robust.

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